Patrick stepped back from me, hair tousled – whoops – and smiled at my boss. ‘Mr Gupta, isn’t it?’
‘I just … I thought …’ Karun thrust forward his office notebook. ‘A signature? No, that’s stupid – I’ll wait outside. So sorry.’
We watched Karun retreat before bursting into laughter. When we’d got our giggles under control, I looked up to see Patrick gazing at me with a soft smile on his lips. ‘Well, I’d better leave before –’
‘I don’t want you to go,’ I said, before I could stop myself.
Patrick stepped closer, once again pinning me against the wall. ‘So …’ he whispered, pressing a scorching kiss against my lips before he stepped back and offered me his hand. ‘Why don’t we run away together? Unless you need to go back to that presentation, I mean.’
My face broke out into wide smile. ‘How about we go for another round of abseiling?’
Patrick’s chuckle made it a small miracle that I could walk forward. ‘You just want to throw yourself into my arms at the bottom.’
Welp. Guilty.
FIFTEEN
Because when we discover the truth, it’ll be sweeter than my favourite blend of coffee in your cup …
–from ‘Grapefruit Sweet, Grapefruit Sour’, by These Exiles
‘AND WHO EXACTLY IS going to be there?’
Did I sound nervous? I definitely didn’t want to sound nervous, but Jessy squeezed my hand as we walked along the pavement as though she knew I was.
‘Not that many people,’ Jessy said brightly as she wove the two of us through a gaggle of tourists attempting to take a photo of the entrance to Chinatown. ‘Just friends. Family, really.’
Friends. Family.
I swallowed. I only had a few of the former, and none of the latter. Not really.
Since Celine … well, it had always been easier not to trust new people.
The reminder that I hadn’t messaged Wes, Ben or Matt in days made the knots in my stomach twist even tighter. I really should check in on them – but any moment that I was on my phone was spent messaging Jessy.
And any moment that Iwasn’tmessaging Jessy was because I was with her.
The familiar sensation of her hand tightening around mine made me smile, and as I looked to my left, it was to see Jessy smiling too. ‘Seriously, Patrick. It’ll be fine. You don’t have to be nervous.’
I nodded, trying my best to relax my body.
It felt so natural now, walking about hand in hand, that I’d almost forgotten we were doing it. I tried not to think about how right it felt. Tried not to memorize the curl of her thumb, the warmth of her skin.
Add it to the long list of things I was trying not to think about. Like how her breath hitched whenever I leaned in to kiss her. Or how badly I wanted to make it past that, even if she was the hottest kiss of my life.
I tried to remind myself that sleeping with a woman I was contractually obliged to date had not gone well for me, historically … but there was a voice in the back of my mind that told me Jessy was different. That things with her would be different.
‘Here – I think it’s down here.’ Jessy’s voice interrupted my swirling thoughts. She peered down a lane that was barely a street. ‘I think?’
‘Who picked this place?’ I raised an eyebrow.
‘Oh, Anna always chooses where she wants to go for her birthday,’ said Jessy, laughter bubbling up. ‘So, it’s you, me, Laura, Anna and Anna’s two housemates. Don’t worry, she’s declared her birthday a phone-free zone, so there won’t be any photos. Just a small dinner.’
My shoulders relaxed. ‘OK.’ That felt less nerve-racking.
‘Not that it won’t be rowdy,’ Jessy added, grinning at me. ‘This is Anna, after all.’
I felt honoured, in a weird sort of way. I couldn’t remember the last time someone had invited me to their birthday dinner. The only close friends I’d kept post-fame – and the only people I really trusted – were my bandmates, and we weren’t the type to be going out for fancy dinners. We got takeaway and watched trashy TV.
